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Latest Ucla Study On Tv Violence Finds Somewhat Less Of It Than Before

January 23, 1998|By Steve Johnson, Tribune Television Critic.

The popular conception holds that television is just oozing violence, a veritable Hong Kong film festival of flying feet, fists and bullets.

It is this belief, ingrained over decades of dialogue about TV and its role in society, that leads Congress to clamor for V-chips and content labels, and parent- and child-advocacy groups to welcome the presumed help.

The reality of television and violence, though it may come as a slap in the face to some, is far less exciting.

The latest and last annual edition of a three-year study out of UCLA finds the incidence of gratuitous violence on the four leading networks relatively small and shrinking in all but one category since the study's first year.

That category covers the rise of the popular and shameless collections of real-life violence--animal attacks and police video and near-death experiences--that have begun scarring prime time.

"They are some of the most intense scenes of violence you will see," said Jeffrey Cole, the study's author and director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy. Included in their number, which grew from being too few to merit inclusion in the 1994-95 report to 16 such programs in the 1996-97 season, were "scenes of animals attacking humans, in some cases killing and eating humans," Cole said.

In one such Fox network special, he said, the producers felt moved to digitally blur the top of a man's buttocks but showed a total of seven times, several times in slow motion, an explosive detonating in a man's face.

But in all the other categories studied--series, made-for-TV movies, theatrical movies shown on TV, kids' TV and promotional spots for other programs--there has been improvement, Cole says.

An essential distinction between television now and in those years when America's attitudes about it were being set is that violence tends to play a different role.

Not only is there more awareness of it as a potential problem, but prime-time dramatic series have matured. They tend to be driven more by character and plot, a la "NYPD Blue," than by action, a la, say, "Mannix."

And Cole's study, which looked at all movies, made-for-TV movies and promotions (with a minimum of four episodes for each series) treats violence differently than have similar studies. The others tended to count acts of violence to give a general picture of how much of it exists.

"The problem with counting," said Cole, "is that a hard slap on the back is treated the same as slashing someone's throat, and a `Schindler's List' would look worse than a `Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'

"This study is based on context. It makes qualitative distinctions between a `Schindler's List' on the one hand, and a `Texas Chainsaw Massacre' on the other. Or between `Law & Order,' `Homicide,' `NYPD Blue,' on one hand, and `Walker, Texas Ranger' on the other."

Indeed, `Walker' was just one of two prime-time network series from last season that Cole tabbed as raising "frequent concerns" about violence. (The other, "Dark Skies," was canceled.) That's down from nine frequent-concern series in the study's first year.

What's wrong with "Walker," he said, is that violence frequently seems to be the point of the story. Chuck Norris, as the title character, doesn't consider other means of dealing with bad guys, the violence is more graphic than it needs to be, and Norris seems to exult in delivering it.

An "NYPD Blue," by contrast, "is not only not inappropriate, it's commendable," said Cole, because, as the study says, "nothing is excessive, everything is realistic and the consequences are always shown." It also airs in a time period when young children are unlikely to be watching.

The number of series raising "occasional concern" was also down, though only from seven in 1994-95 to six. The culprits last year? "America's Most Wanted," "Millennium," "Nash Bridges," "The X-Files," "Sliders" and the since-canceled "High Incident."

In children's television on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, four programs were tabbed as containing "sinister violence," the same number as the preceding year and three fewer than in 1994-95. They were: "Power Rangers (Zeo and Turbo)," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "X-Men," and "Project G.e.e.K.e.R."

Although the study concentrated on network television, it did sample cable, the emerging networks WB and UPN and syndicated series. It found high levels of concern, especially in pay cable, a predictable result, and in syndicated series, such as "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," where 11 of 32 shows raised concerns.

The full, 232-page text of Cole's study, "The UCLA Television Violence Report," is available online at www-ccp.sppsr.ucla.edu. The study's approximately $500,000 per year annual cost was paid by the big four networks, the result of a compromise suggested by then-Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) that was intended to forestall the kind of legislative posturing that has led to the V-chip and content ratings. (Simon's office also administered the money to keep the appearance of independence.)

The political deal, obviously, didn't work, but Cole said the networks came to value the study for its own merits, and he is talking with them about continuing his work on violence and looking at other television issues.